Non-Academic Misconduct

Information on how to report anther student's conduct or behaviour, and information about the process if you have been accused

This section is divided as follows:

I would like to make a complaint about a student’s conduct or behaviour
There has been an allegation about my conduct or behaviour

I would like to make a complaint about a student’s conduct or behaviour

As members of the UCL community, students are expected to adhere to UCL’s rules and regulations, to show respect for persons and property, and to behave in a way that does not interfere with the normal operations of UCL.

If you have a concern about a student’s conduct or behaviour, you should report this to the University as soon as possible using Report & Support in the first instance. Reports can also be submitted via the Academic Manual.

Precautionary Measures

In cases where we assess that there is a risk to an individual(s) and/or the wider UCL community, we may put in place precautionary measures to mitigate against the risk of harm to others and/or the risk of repeated unwanted behaviours.

Examples of these types of measures include, but are not limited to:

The requirement to relocate from a Halls of Residence
The requirement to have no contact with the reporting party
A ban from specific or total areas of UCL or the Students’ Union
A ban from specific UCL or Students’ Union activities
A temporary suspension from the campus
A temporary suspension from studies

You will be advised what precautionary measures have been implemented, and what to do if there is a breach. You must also do what is asked of you to support our ability to safeguard you.

Minor conduct or behaviour issue

If your concern relates to what we might consider a minor conduct or behaviour issues (such as disruptive behaviour in a teaching space or excessive noise), you should notify the Casework Team using Report & Support. Reports can also be submitted via the Academic Manual.

Section 3 of the Disciplinary Code and Procedure provides examples of the types of issues that constitute minor conduct issues.

What will happen next?

The Casework Team will contact you to obtain further information or evidence of the alleged misconduct and advise you about the possible courses of action we can take to resolve the matter.

If it is a matter that we can deal with, the Casework Team will contact the reported student(s) to let them know that the allegations have been made and to invite them to a meeting to discuss these allegations in more detail.

When reporting concerns about conduct or behaviour, it is a good idea to think about how you would like us to resolve the matter. For example, possible courses of action might look like:

Good behaviour agreements,
Non-contact agreements,
Mitigating possibility of contact in lectures or on campus,
Directing you to support from the Student Mediator, Student Support and Wellbeing, or the Crime Prevention and Personal Safety Advisor,
Formal investigation by the Casework Team.

However, you must remember that any outcome should be proportionate and reasonable given the circumstances of the case.

Receiving an outcome

Where a formal investigation has taken place, you can expect to receive an outcome letter advising you whether the allegation has been upheld or not including details of any precautionary measures continue to stay in place. However, we will not be able to disclose if any penalties have been applied.

Major conduct or behaviour issues

If your concern relates to a more serious conduct or behaviour concern (such as bullying or harassment, sexual misconduct, or something that might have a significant health and safety impact), you should report this to the Casework Team using Report & Support.

Section 3 of the Disciplinary Code and Procedure provides examples of the types of issues that constitute major conduct issues.

What will happen next?

More serious allegations about the conduct or behaviour of a student will usually be dealt with by a Discipline Committee with support from the Casework Team.

If the Casework Team determines that the alleged concern meets the threshold for an investigation, they will appoint a Senior Casework Officer who will liaise with you to discuss the allegation in more details and/or to provide more information about the allegations such as writing a statement outlining the circumstances and providing copies of any evidence that might support your case (for example copies of emails, text messages or other relevant documents).

In most cases, we will need to provide all of this information to the student against whom the allegation has been made, including the identity of the person(s) making the allegation. This is because the student should be provided with a fair opportunity to make a response to the allegations and sharing all of the information, including the identity of the complainant and any witnesses, is the fairest and most thorough way to undertake an investigation.

The reported student(s) will be contacted to attend a Discipline Committee Hearing to provide their response to the allegations and present any information and evidence they deem relevant. They can also invite witnesses.

If the Panel feel that they would benefit from speaking to you, they may call you as a witness to the hearing.

Receiving an outcome

You can expect to receive an outcome letter advising you whether the allegation has been upheld or not including details of any precautionary measures we have put in place. However, we will not be able to disclose if any penalties have been applied for data protection reasons.

Sensitive Cases

If you have a particularly sensitive case that you would like to discuss in confidence with a member of staff, you should contact your Personal Tutor or the Casework Team in the first instance.

Our staff are available to offer you advice on your options and talk to you about what might happen next if you want to submit a formal complaint.

UCL Students’ Union Advice Service is also very experienced in providing advice about this process. We also have a number of other services available to support you (see other sources of advice at the bottom of this page).

Police Involvement

Where the alleged behaviour is also deemed to be a criminal offence, we recommend that you report the matter to the police. Even if you do not wish to press charges, the incidents will be recorded for future reference in case of other offences or if you change your mind.

The University reserves the right to suspend our investigation if we feel that it is necessary for the criminal investigation and legal proceedings to have concluded. However, just because the police or other authorities might be unable, unwilling, or not yet able to proceed does not mean that we will not proceed with our own investigation if we deem it necessary.

Relating to UCL Students’ Union activity of officers

If the allegation concerns a breach of conduct or behaviour that has taken place on UCL Students’ Union premises, during a UCL Students’ Union organised activity, or by a sabbatical officer, this will be dealt with the Students’ Union's disciplinary process in the first instance.

However, misconduct that might have implications on an individual's status as a student may also be dealt with under the University's procedure.

Please contact the UCL Students’ Union to discuss or report a concern.

Possible outcomes

Following the investigation, we will decide if, on the balance of probabilities (i.e. whether it is more likely than not), there has been a breach of our expected standards of student conduct and behaviour.

If we decide that there has been a breach, we will also decide what the seriousness of this breach is and will agree one or more outcomes in line with this.

The outcome will be proportionate to the seriousness and circumstances of the case. Some examples of the types of outcomes that we may agree can be found in Section 5 and Section 6 of the Disciplinary Code & Procedure.

We will let you know when our investigation has been completed and we will keep you updated if there are any delays.

If measures have been put in place that relate to your safety, we will keep you updated on what these are and whether they remain in place in future.

It will not usually be possible for us to let you know any of the other details of our investigation or what outcomes may have been issued to the student due to data protection constraints.

What if I am dissatisfied with the outcome

There is no right for the person making the allegations to appeal the decision of the Discipline Committee.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of the case, you may be able to submit a complaint under the Student Complaints Procedure.

There has been an allegation about my conduct or behaviour

The Casework Team will contact you via email to let you know that there has been an allegation about your conduct or behaviour that we believe requires further investigation.

Precautionary Measures

If we have deemed that there your behaviour poses a risk to the health and safety of another UCL student and/or the wider University community, we will tell you what precautionary measures have been implemented following an assessment of risk.

Examples of these types of measures include, but are not limited to:

The requirement to relocate from a Halls of Residence
The requirement to have no contact with the reporting party
A ban from specific or total areas of UCL or the Students’ Union
A ban from specific UCL or Students’ Union activities
A temporary suspension from the campus
A temporary suspension from studies

You will be notified in writing what precautionary measures have been implemented. It is important that you abide by this request as failure to do so may result in more serious consequences for you.

What will happen?

If the allegation is what we consider to be a minor breach of our expected standards of student conduct and behaviour, this will usually be dealt with by the Casework Team.

More serious allegations about your conduct or behaviour will usually be dealt with by a Discipline Committee.

We may also put in place one or more precautionary measures, such as a suspension from campus, whilst the case is under investigation to safeguard all parties (more information on Precautionary Measures is provided in the full procedure).

If you are close to graduation, we may decide to withhold your award until the process has concluded.

When we write to you, we will let you know what the allegation(s) are, and we may invite you to an interview to discuss these allegations in more detail. In advance of this interview, we will let you have all the information that we have collected about your case so that you have time to read this before you meet with the Casework Team or Discipline Committee.

We will also let you know about what support and advice is available to you to throughout this process. As well as accessing Student Support and Wellbeing, we always recommend that you speak to an Advisor in the UCL Students’ Union who are very experienced with supporting students through this process.

You can be accompanied at your Interview by someone from UCL Students’ Union, or another individual who is a UCL student or staff member, but it is important that you understand that this person cannot usually represent you (more information on Accompaniment and Representation is provided in the Discipline Code & Procedure.

As part of an investigation, you may be asked to provide more information about the allegations that have been made, such as writing a statement outlining the circumstances and providing copies of any evidence that might support your case (for example copies of emails, text messages or other relevant documents).

You must engage with what is asked of you during the process, including responding to emails, providing further information, and attending interviews or a Panel. If you do not engage with the process as instructed this could result in a more serious outcome.

If you are unable to engage with the process or attend an interview that has been scheduled, you must contact the relevant member of staff as soon as possible with a reasonable explanation for your unavailability. We may be able to reschedule the proceedings but if we do not hear from you, or we deem your explanation unreasonable, then we may proceed in your absence.

Legal Representation

Students do not have an automatic right or entitlement to legal representation when subject to discipline proceedings, but such a right may be appropriate if it I deemed necessary to ensure fairness and natural justice. For example, because of the severity and seriousness of the allegations, or if you are on a course leading to a professional qualification.

Whether or not you should be permitted legal representation will be determined on a case-by-case basis and you must advise us of your intention to appoint legal representation as soon as possible so that we can give prompt consideration to your request.

Police Involvement

If your conduct and behaviour constitute a criminal offence which is under investigation by the police, we may suspend our investigation until this has concludes. However, just because there is a police investigation does not mean that we will not initiate our own disciplinary proceedings if we deem this necessary.

It is your responsibility to ensure you inform the Casework Team of any progress and/or change in status regarding your case, and we will review on a monthly basis to determine whether any further or alternative action is required.

What are the possible outcomes from an Interview or Panel?

When considering your case, the Casework Team or Panel will use the balance of probabilities (i.e. whether it is more likely than not), to decide if there has been a breach of our expected standards of student conduct and behaviour.

If we decide that there has been a breach, we will also decide what the seriousness of this breach is and will agree one or more outcomes in line with this. The outcome will be proportionate to the seriousness and circumstances of the case and any previous instances of similar breaches.

Some examples of the types of outcomes that we may agree at each level of seriousness can be found in Discipline Code & Procedure.

How long will a record of misconduct stay on my student file and what are the implications of this?

If the Casework Team or Panel determines that misconduct has occurred, a note will be placed on your student file. This will not impact on your ability to continue with your studies or be awarded and graduate (unless you have been expelled or are on a course with very specific professional requirements) and this record will only be referred to again if you are involved in another incident.

We will not normally disclose a record of misconduct to a placement provider or as part of an external reference request unless you are on a course with very specific professional requirements that mean that we must disclose this. In these cases, we will let you know that we have been asked to provide this information before we do so.

Is there an appeals process?

Once you receive the final outcome of either an interview with the Casework Team or a Discipline Committee you may submit an appeal if there is evidence that:

The disciplinary process was not conducted in accordance with the procedure,
New evidence has become available which was not, and which could not reasonable have been made available at the time the case was considered,
The penalty imposed was disproportionate to the offence.

The Appeal Form is available in the Academic Manual.

Appeals which do not meet the grounds for appeal or are submitted late and do not provide compelling exceptional reasons, will not be considered. The Casework Team will let you know if this is the case and will provide you with a Completion of Procedures Letter which will allow you to take your case to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator.

A Discipline Review Body will be convened to consider your appeal and they will have not had prior involvement in your case. You can expect to receive an outcome in writing within 10 working days of the decision of the Discipline Review Body.

If your appeal is upheld, the Discipline Review Body may recommend that a fresh and independent Investigation or Panel into the original allegations is undertaken, or they may overturn the original decision and replace this with their own decision. The outcome of the appeal is final and as such you will be issued with a Completion of Procedures Letter enabling you to submit a complaint to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA).

What if I am still unhappy following the outcome of my appeal?

The OIA provides a free and independent scheme for the review of student complaints. Upon receipt of a Completion of Procedures Letter, you can make an application to the OIA to review your complaint within 12 months of the date of the letter.

More information can be found at www.oiahe.org.uk.